The Capital Improvement Review committee met one last time on Monday night in council chambers. The purpose of the meeting was to give committee members a chance to make changes to the final scores they assigned to CIP applications during last week’s Thursday night meeting. The scores could either be increased or decreased during Monday night’s meeting.

23 applications were received and a series of meetings was held so that the committee could hear presentations on each of the applications. During the meetings, the public was allotted time to speak out regarding the applications. In all, Community Development Director Rick Bohn said that the committee heard about 12 hours of public testimony at the hearings.

On Monday, the public was allotted a timeframe in which to comment at the beginning of the meeting. Several of the applications’ scores were slightly changed, as discussion primarily centered on the Los Alamos Archival and Records Center. There were eight criteria by which the applications were scored. The Archival and Records Center application received an increase in score for two of the eight criteria. Health, safety and legal mandate, as well s documented public support resulted in a higher score for that application, when scores were recalculated at the end of the meeting. “We thought it was a good idea in case people had second thought or they missed something,” Bohn said of holding Monday night’s meeting.

Applications that received the top five scores were: White Rock Rt. 4 improvements/alignment study, demolition of the Los Alamos Apartments, Canyon Rim Trail Phase 1, Canyon Rim Trail Phase 2 and the golf course building and cart barn. Bohn said that ranking the applications is not the whole story. “We investigate and talk about the actual applications. In some cases there were conflicts, etc. It’s not just the rankings that are important, it’s the comments and suggestions that we can bring to the process,” he said during a previous interview regarding the application process.

According to a press release from the county, the committee will also discuss their final report with County Administrator, Max Baker, who is expected to receive the report with the committee’s recommendations this week. “Some of the items discussed for inclusion in the recommendations for several of the applications included changes to the amount of funds requested for Phase 1 studies, input on estimate staff time and resources that might be required to support Phase 1 or 2 applications if they were to proceed to the next step in the CIP process, and suggested areas of study or increased scope of work to address questions or concerns the Committee might have had during the public hearings in January and February about a particular project.”

Baker will review the committee’s final report as part of the overall FY 10 budget process. A series of regular and special county council meetings will kick off the budget hearings set for April. According to the press release, “the council will make the final determination of which CIP applications will proceed to Phase 1 (study) or Phase 2 (design/construction) during the budget hearings. They’ll be considering the committee’s final report and the county administrator’s recommendations, as well as discussing the overall budget for FY 10.”